EFF says ’stop RIAA madness’
p2p news / p2pnet: The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has joined the steadily growing crowd that’s had enough of the Big Four Organized Music cartels’ vicious and bizarre sue ‘em all marketing scheme.
In its latest phk-up, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), owned by Warner Music, Sony BMG, Vivendi Universal and EMI, subpoenaed a Georgia family which A) doesn’t own a computer and B) isn’t even online.
This shouldn’t come as any kind of surprise, however. The RIAA has also tried to sue Gertrude Walton, an 83-year-old deceased grandmother, not to mention children as young as 12, and their parents.
Now, “Take a Stand Against the Madness; Stop the RIAA!,” says the EFF.
“The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is on a rampage, launching legal attacks against average Americans from coast to coast. Rather than working to create a rational, legal means by which its customers can take advantage of file-sharing technology and pay a fair price for the music they love, it has chosen to sue people like Brianna LaHara, a 12 year-old girl living in New York City public housing.
“Brianna, and hundreds of other music fans like her, are being forced to pay thousands of dollars they do not have to settle RIAA-member lawsuits – supporting a business model that is anything but rational. This crusade is generating thousands of subpoenas and hundreds of lawsuits, but not a single penny for the artists that the RIAA claims to protect.
“Copyright law shouldn’t make criminals out of 60 million Americans, and it’s time for a change. Tell Congress that it’s time to stop the madness!
“We have over 85,000 signatures so far – this is amazing! If we can get 100,000 signatures, we will deliver the petition to the Senate and House Commerce and Judiciary Commitees.”
You can also help Patti Santangelo, the first of the 19,000 victims to actually take the RIAA on.
Because despite the RIAA’s spurious claims that they’ve successfully ‘prosecuted’ thousands of people, not one person has so far been found guilty of anything, let alone appeared before a judge.
Santangelo and her lawyer, Jordan Glass, are single-handedly fighting the Big Four’s RIAA, supported by p2pnet readers who have so far contributed $13,391 to help her and Glass as they stand against the multi-billion-dollar Big Four record labels and their teams of high-priced lawyers.
$1, $10, or $1,000, it all helps.
Go here to sign the EFF petition, and click the donation button below to add to the Patti Santangelo Fight Goliath fund, administered from an escrow acount.
Or you can snail-mail your contribution to:
Patti Santangelo
C/O PO Box 274
Hartsdale
New York 10530-0274
If you’re a site owner and you’re be willing to display a Fight Goliath button, go here.
Also See:
single-handedly fighting – Patti Santangelo update, April 15, 2006
latest phk-up – RIAA nails family with no computer, April 24, 2006
April 26th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
bomb the riaa!!!
April 26th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
this petition is only for US residents.
why doesn’t the EFF make a petition for the EU and other governments.
i’m american, but don’t live in usa or EU. what about us?
April 26th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
The EFF always tries to freee load on things someone else has already started. This is just a PR stunt/member drive so what does it care about you guys?
April 26th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
It doesn’t matter who carries the message, or why, as long as it gets across.
But I know what you mean, catflap : )
Cheers!
April 26th, 2006 at 11:10 pm
It’s not a formal petition to put a candidate or referendum on the ballot, so anyone should be able to sign it.
Also, not being either a US resident nor citizens has stopped the likes of the MPAA from launching DCMA suits against UK residents/citizens on the flimsiest of a nexus because torrent files were hosted on a server outside the US but owned by a US based company. Apparently no one is immune.
–TG